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I’m thinking a lot about Marcella Hazan, the doyen of Italian cooking in America, who died yesterday in Florida at the age of 89. I’ve been flipping through my copy of her first book, The Classic Italian Cookbook, and musing about how much she informed the way I cook, the way millions of Americans cook, and the way Hazan changed the way we all eat.

I can’t remember when I bought the book, which was first published in 1973 and was subtitled “The Art of Italian Cooking and the Italian Art of Eating,” but it must have been around 1979; it was already in paperback. It was one of the first cookbooks I owned — along with Joy of Cooking and Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The book taught me lessons about Italian cooking — about technique and the value of using great ingredients and not overworking them — I’ve always carried with me. They were lessons being learned all over America during that decade, such an important one in the history of American eating. “The Classic Italian Cookbook” is one of the most influential cookbooks every published in America; Hazan is hugely responsible for America’s long-standing love affair with Italian food.

My copy of Hazan's first book is falling apart from use

My copy is falling apart — literally: The spine is broken in two, and I just try to keep the pages, which are falling out, in order. But the place where the spine broke is telling: the page with the recipe for Risotto, Milan Style. Risotto for me was the great lesson of the book. I’d turned to the risotto milanese recipe because I’d learned on page 256 that “the natural accompaniment for ossobuco is Risotto, Milan Style (page 184).” I’m quite sure that Hazan’s book is a big reason ossobuco became such a popular dinner party dish in the 1970s. I only make the dish about once every five years at this point, but it’s Hazan’s recipe I turn to. It’s also where I learned that the traditional garnish for ossobuco is gremolada. I wonder how many Americans learned of gremolada — the pungent chop of garlic, parsley and grated lemon peel — from these same pages. Not that Hazan was a fan of it as a garnish for the dish. “Tradition deserves respect,” she wrote, “but art demands sincerity, and cooking is, above all else, an art. In the light of modern taste, I find that the gremolada overloads with unnecessary pungency a beautifully balanced and richly flavored dish.” Bless her heart.

Altogether, it’s not a book that’s effusive or joyful, but one that’s exacting and correct. I was never terribly attracted by Hazan’s recipes for antipasti, which I found to be a little too austere. But I bow to it for teaching me to make pesto, hand-made pasta, gnocchi and much more.

Meanwhile, it’s a book that the menu masterminds of Dallas’ Italian restaurants — where so many crimes culinary and aesthetic are visited on the Italian repertoire every night of the week — would do well to revisit (if they ever visited it in the first place), if for nothing else than to relearn its lessons of simplicity and of the true spirit of Italian cooking. Interesting note: When Mi Piaci first opened in 1991, most of its recipes were based on Hazan’s recipes.

Mi Piaci Park Cities opens today in the former and short-lived Ocho Kitchen and Cocktails space on Preston Road just south of Northwest Highway on the edge of Preston Center.

It looks like the new digs will offer the same or a similar menu, with “house-made breads and pasta, house-cured meats, risottos and specialty pizzas,” according to the press release. The upstairs lounge, serving wine and cocktails, is called the Enoteca Wine Bar, and there’s a year-round upstairs patio with dining.

Sarah Blaskovichreports on Pegasus News that Joel Harloff, chef at Ocho Ktichen, will be executive chef, and Restaurant Week reservations at the old Mi Piaci will be honored at the new location. Valet parking is complimentary. (Now Sarah sez no.)

Meanwhile, the original location in North Dallas is stuck in limbo. Quoth the press team: “In regards to Mi Piaci North Dallas, [owner] Brian Black is hopeful to reopen the location, pending legal matters, but this has yet to be determined.”

A couple of weeks ago, I heard from a general manager of a prominent Dallas restaurant who emailed to tell me that several of his customers told him Mi Piaci had closed. I was somewhat stunned, as Mi Piaci’s owners, Sonia and Brian Black, had recently announced they’d be opening a second Mi Piaci – in the former Ocho Kitchen + Cocktails space in Preston Center — in August.

I contacted the publicist who had sent the release about the new Mi Piaci, and asked her to confirm the closure of the Montfort Road location. She sounded baffled — hadn’t heard any such thing — and told me she’d contact the owners and get back to me. She did shortly after, telling me in effect that it was all a silly misunderstanding. The restaurant was just closed for a weekend, she said, to fix an air conditioning problem. A few days later, Side Dish reported “Mi Piaci in North Dallas is locked out of building.” I contacted the publicist again, who wrote to me: “I am waiting for a call from Brian / Sonia and will be in touch following …. ” I never heard back from her.

I drove by Mi Piaci over the weekend, and saw a padlock on the door, but no notice. I just called the restaurant, and got this outgoing message:

Thank you for calling Mi Piaci. The business has been in a legal struggle with the landlord since April of 2013. We are hoping for a positive resolution. Our restaurant company is working diligently on the opening of Mi Piaci Park Cities. We will be open to the public the first week of August. Come visit us at 8411 Preston Road, Suite 132. Mi Piaci has a 23 year strong and positive relationship with the Dallas community. This, we assure you, will continue. Thank you.

Mi Piaci, the 21-year-old Far North Dallas restaurant, recently had a complete makeover. There’s a new chef, too — Elmer Pineda — so it seemed like a good time to take a fresh look. That’s the subject of this week’s review. We would love to hear what you think — about the review, or about the restaurant. Please let us know in a comment.

Mi Piaci, the Italian restaurant in Far North Dallas that will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year, has a new executive chef: Ross Demers. Demers’ resume includes stints at the Mansion (under John Tesar) and Stephan Pyles.